Crookshanks Finds a Home
by KatWoman8
Summary: How Crookshanks found his owner after waiting for years in the pet store.


Not mine. It all belongs to JKR.

* * *

The owner of Magical Menagerie, Sarah, looked into the box of kittens a customer had just dropped off for her to sell. She turned to her assistant and said, "They're cute little things. Maybe we should put them on display in front window."

The assistant wrinkled her nose. "All but the orange one. He looks like he ran face first into a wall." As she spoke, the very kitten she was talking about turned his head and held her gaze before blinking, almost as if he _knew _what she had said about him.

At the end of the day, eight of the nine kittens had found knew homes, but the orange one, with the intelligent eyes and pushed in face, remained.

Eight years later, he still remained. Sarah had named him Crookshanks and he was a valued, although unpaid, member of her staff. She had learned to trust his judgment, as he had alerted her to the fact that two of her employees were stealing from her. If Crookshanks was wary of someone, so was Sarah.

Many times over the past years, it seemed like he would _finally_ find a home, but before the sale would be completed, the cat would do _something_, hiss at a small child, claw or bite someone and the interested party would walk out with another cat.

What Sarah didn't know about Crookshanks were his dreams. The cat very much wanted a home, with a person he could claim as _his_ but he frequently had a dreams. A dog, a big black dog, was talking to him. The first time he had seen the dog, Crookshanks was terrified, but the dog's friendly manner soon put him at ease. The dog introduced himself as Padfoot and told him that he required the cat's assistance. Padfoot assured Crookshanks that he would find his home, but he needed to go to a specific person. Crookshanks asked who that person was but Padfoot didn't know. At this, Crookshanks had looked down at his front paws and wondered how he'd find that person. Padfoot had nudged him gently and said he would know; when the time was right and the person was right, Crookshanks _would_ know.

Periodically over the years, Crookshanks would dream about Padfoot and the dream was always the same: Padfoot would tell him, "Remember, you will know the right person." Usually, the day after one of these dreams, someone would come in and want to buy him, but Crookshanks knew that this wasn't the right person, and another cat would go home in his place.

So, Crookshanks remained in the shop, supervising the staff, keeping the rats in line with a cold stare, and keeping the spiders at bay. It was during a spider hunt where he climbing up over all the cages, nearing the ceiling. He reached out and squashed the spider against the wall. As he pulled his foot back and licked the spider from his paw, he thought about his most recent dream. Padfoot was there but he didn't warn Crookshanks at all. He just grinned at him, or as close as a dog could grin, with a happy expression on his face, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and his tail wagging.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a commotion at the counter. He looked down to see Sarah talking to three kids. One of the boys was talking about his pet rat and he placed the rat on the counter.

Crookshanks felt the evil and filth pouring of the rat and without a second thought, he leapt off the cage and landed on the boy's head before jumping down to the counter. The rat, which had been laying there letting Sarah poke at it, jumped off the counter and scampered out the door; both boys following it.

The girl walked to the window and looked out. "They've caught him," she said and added that she'd get the rat tonic. She also told Sarah that she was interested in purchasing an owl. Sarah had replied that she didn't currently have any owls to sell but that the girl should try Eeylops Owl Emporium. The girl, who had been petting Crookshanks the entire time said that she would do that.

As the girl reached for the rat tonic, she looked down at Crookshanks to find him staring at her. "Er, how much for the cat?" she asked.

"That cat?" Sarah pointed to Crookshanks.

"Yes," the girl said as she picked up Crookshanks. The cat wrapped his front paws around her neck and buried his face in her bushy hair. The girl handed her galleons over to Sarah and tightened her grip on Crookshanks as she walked out the store. Crookshanks had found his person.


End file.
